Mariam Hassan, a UO sophomore, is running in the 2024 ASUO presidential election. (Samantha Karambelas/Ethos)
Mariam Hassan has won the 2024 ASUO presidential election, the Daily Emerald has learned, after UO Student Power candidate Max Jensen abruptly dropped out of the race Monday.
Hassan and her running mate, Kikachi Akpakwu, will be the next ASUO president and vice president for the 2024-25 school year.
Jensen and his running mate Maxwell Gullickson both dropped out of the race Monday according to Ian Finn, the campaign manager for UO Student Power. Finn said that the slate would continue to contest non-presidential seats in the upcoming runoff elections.
ASUO Elections Board Chair Grigorii Malakhov confirmed to the Daily Emerald that, because Jensen and Gullickson dropped out after the results were announced, Hassan and Akpakwu win the runoff election by default.
“The election results have already been processed,” Malakhov said. “So we can’t invite another slate into the runoff.”
It was not immediately clear as to why Jensen and Gullickson pulled out of the race, though “personal reasons” were cited. The Daily Emerald is investigating all evidence as to their reasoning.
The OurUO and UO Student Power slates have faced a tumultuous series of developments since the elections began.
UO Student Power was suspended from campaigning on April 5 amid grievances raised over the improper placement of flyers and the alleged posting of UO Students for Justice in Palestine’s endorsement without the organization’s consent. The campaign was partially un-suspended on April 6 after the Board received ”new evidence” against the SJP claim.
OurUO, meanwhile, has faced criticism after revelations that Hassan and Akpakwu attended a conference hosted by the Campus Victory Project — an organization supporting student government candidates which has been associated with Turning Point USA, a prominent far-right group.
Hassan and Akpakwu have denied knowledge of the conference’s affiliation with TPUSA, and an ASUO Elections Board investigation did not find evidence that they received funding from the organization.
Hassan and Akpakwu have filed a grievance with the Elections Board over the alleged “harassing [of] SJP leaders” by Finn and the UO Student Power slate. Finn, who denies the allegations, filed a separate grievance accusing Hassan and Akpakwu of using “manipulated/edited text messages” in their grievance.
Neither of these grievances, which were submitted April 5, have been ruled on by the Elections Board.
Voting in runoff elections for non-presidential races will open Wednesday, April 10 at 9 a.m. and close Thursday, April 11 at 9 a.m.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
